When performing various procedures with the oral cavity, it is often desirable, if not necessary, for the dental practitioner to slow or divert the flow of saliva produced by the salivary glands. There are four principle salivary glands within the oral cavity. The two parotid salivary glands are located inside the mouth and near each ear. There are also two sublingual salivary glands located near the base of the tongue. The vast majority of saliva produced enters a patient's mouth through these principle salivary glands. A minor amount also enters through the mucosals. Several devices and techniques have been employed in order to prevent the saliva from interfering with the dental practitioner's work inside the oral cavity.
Rolls of cotton have been used in an attempt to prevent saliva produced by the principle salivary glands from interfering with the work of a dental practitioner within the oral cavity. The cotton roll is placed below the salivary gland. As saliva is produced it drains downward, and is absorbed by the cotton. One disadvantage of using cotton rolls is that they are rather large and restrict the ability of the dental practitioner to work within the oral cavity because they take up so much space. In addition, they quickly saturate necessitating removal and replacement of the cotton during the procedure. It is often difficult to maintain the cotton roll in the position place. Finally, cotton rolls can be uncomfortable for the patient.
Rubber dams have been used for isolating an area of the mouth from saliva. Rubber dams are difficult to use as they must be assembled which can take a significant amount of time. In addition, when using a rubber dam, the patient cannot completely close his or her mouth. This makes it difficult for the dental practitioner to check the patient's occlusion, and is generally uncomfortable for the patient.
Dental suction tubes have also been used to remove access saliva produced by the salivary glands. Generally the suction tube is inserted periodically to remove excess saliva as it pools in the patient's mouth. This either requires an assistant to periodically insert the suction tube, or it requires interrupting the dental practitioner's work.
An early U.S. patent of Stadelmann U.S. Pat. No. 2,587,008 discloses a dental appliance that includes a sublingual suction fork with tongue depressor. The sublingual suction fork with tongue depressor are disposed inward of the lower teeth while an upper suction fork is disposed outwardly of the lower teeth to receive saliva from the parotid glands.
A more recent U.S. patent of McGuire U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,347 discloses a distal instrument for removing saliva. The McGuire instrument includes a pair of tubes positioned within a patient's mouth to support a pair of absorbent rolls on the sides of the alveolar ridge. One of the tubes terminates at its proximal end in a suction adaptor for contact interface with a suction tube connected to a dental suction device. The proximal end of the other of the tubes intersects the first tube at its mid-length. An absorbent roll supporting a perforated stem is removably inserted into the distal end of each of the tubes. Each stem includes a number of apertures in fluid communication with the passageways through the pair of tubes so that suction applied at the suction adapter operates through the apertures to remove fluid absorbed by the absorbent rolls.
Notwithstanding the above, it is presently believed that there is a need and a potential commercial market for an improved dual saliva extractor and dual retractor for removing saliva and restricting movement of the tongue and upper lip near one of the Stenson's ducts.